There’s a lot of things from that [era] I remember.Pet Sounds, certainly.

He played in swing bands and stuff, so that was his thing.

What always impresses me is the way Sinatra delivers the vocal, the timing of it all.

And with the Beach Boys, too, there’s something involuntary about the reaction, hearing those harmonies.

Them feeding the animalson the cover?

My first time performing in public

“I didn’t start playing guitar till much later.

I used to go for piano for lessons once a week from about 8 years old.

But I wouldn’t say I really took to it.

I don’t think they were thinking, ‘That’s it, we found the thing!

I don’t think I particularly excelled in dramatics.

I mean, it was a lot of responsibility at that age to be given the job as narrator.

They were like, ‘But there’s a catch: You’re the donkey.’

I was like, ‘All right, well, I’ll take it.’

Matthew [Helder], our drummer, in fact, was also in that production.

He might have had a more senior role.

But his mom found some footage from it, which hopefully is under lock and key somewhere.

[Laughs]Yeah, you’d need a retina scan to get into that vault.”

I was too young for the one before that [(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

], though I do remember being aware of it.

No, wait, I might have done I might have mowed the grass to get ‘Torn.

I mean, funny that three out of the four of what became the Arctic Monkeys lineup were there.

It wasn’t usually like that.

And all the opening acts this band called the Bandits and this band called Nada Surf.

That was really the start.

We were going to shows whenever we could after that.

We’d just started playing together that summer, in me parents’ garage.

We’d be trying to play ‘Get Free’ by the Vines.

I’m sad that I missed [seeing] the Strokes in Sheffield forIs This It, though.

I was a little bit late to the party there."

Sadly, I was sort of struggling to pin it down.

But there’s someone called Andreas Johnson, and the song was called ‘Glorious.’

It was on the radio a lot at the time.

It had this big guitar and orchestra parts; it’s hard to describe.

And also maybe the song ‘Crush.’

I mean, it’s a little too on the nose possibly, but the artist is Jennifer Page.

Yeah, I may have listened to it yesterday there was a line it in that made me smile.

I can’t remember really talking to anyone about music at that time.

A few years later I probably wouldn’t shut up about it.

I hadn’t thought about that for a really long time."

Do I have songs that haven’t found their way into things yet?

One of my favorite songs ever is ‘The Beast in Me’ by Nick Lowe.

That’s a beautiful piece of music.

And ‘Where Did Everybody Go?’

from Nat King Cole has incredible, incredible vocals.

It’s a really simple, straightforward set of words, just done in an excellent way."

I remember saying how good I thought it was, and somebody was maybe surprised.

It’s pretty exciting."

I’m a big fan of that movie and the performances.

I don’t know what it is it’s a dolphin thing, it’s a quack.

And the way he makes his way through it?

We’re kind of back in that 2002 region again, aren’t we?

But the lyrics on some of that shit are brilliant.

Depends what kind of funeral you want, I guess.

“[Laughs]

Arctic Monkeys’ new album,The Car,is out Friday.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.